Im big fan of his. Im sure when tires are hard enough to be pushed 100% over the whole normal stint, he is the quickest out there and would beat Alonso more convincingly than in 2007. His quali record last year against Button in normal conditions was 15:0, Brasil being actually the closest margin between them two.

But from time to time he has big issues regarding tire management. For example in Brasil he made mess of them in 4 laps, while Button went on and on. I didnt visit any Lewis thread since then so Im wondering if there was any particular reason for that. First laps of Brasil GP provided exactly conditions where I would expect Lewis to excel and dominate Button but it was not the case at all. In general since introduction of Pirelli his races are IMO too dependant on given tires, at least more than in case of Alonso or Vettel. What do you think?

Im big fan of his. Im sure when tires are hard enough to be pushed 100% over the whole normal stint, he is the quickest out there and would beat Alonso more convincingly than in 2007. His quali record last year against Button in normal conditions was 15:0, Brasil being actually the closest margin between them two.

But from time to time he has big issues regarding tire management. For example in Brasil he made mess of them in 4 laps, while Button went on and on. I didnt visit any Lewis thread since then so Im wondering if there was any particular reason for that. First laps of Brasil GP provided exactly conditions where I would expect Lewis to excel and dominate Button but it was not the case at all. In general since introduction of Pirelli his races are IMO too dependant on given tires, at least more than in case of Alonso or Vettel. What do you think?

I think all drivers have races when they struggle with tyres. Jenson always does spectacularly well in changeable track conditions like we saw in Brazil, it's his greatest strength. But he's had races where he has really struggled. His race in Malaysia was a total disaster - he just couldn't get the tyres working for some reason.

In general, I think Lewis's reputation as someone who can't manage his tryes is greatly exaggerated. He was the only driver in the Spanish GP to manage to make only one stop, for example and it meant he finished ahead of his team mate despite having to start from the back of the grid.

In Brazil Mclaren split strategies and Ham switched to intermediates and Button didn't, the track wasn't wet enough for inters so the tread wore out. Besides slicks never get as worn in semi wet conditions because they operate at much lower speeds.

I don't have any stats to back this up but Button has probably had more pit stops over the course of this year than Hamilton, Ham has completely changed his driving style and is as smooth now as anyone else on the grid. Whenever David Croft praises Button's smooth 'tyre whispering' driving style he usually ends up pitting after a lap or two... IIRC Button made more pit stops than Lewis in Malaysia and Bahrain amd possibly China, and amazingly in Spain even though Lewis spent most of the race fighting through traffic

In Brazil Mclaren split strategies and Ham switched to intermediates and Button didn't, the track wasn't wet enough for inters so the tread wore out. Besides slicks never get as worn in semi wet conditions because they operate at much lower speeds.

I ment how quickly Lewis worn those slicks on which he started. He couldnt drive on them after 6 laps. That resulted in inferior strategy and loosing 40 sec. on JB. That was performance Im not comfortable with, asking myself what has happened.

I ment how quickly Lewis worn those slicks on which he started. He couldnt drive on them after 6 laps. That resulted in inferior strategy and loosing 40 sec. on JB. That was performance Im not comfortable with, asking myself what has happened.

What race where you watching? He didn't wear them out, IMHO he couldn't get them/keep them up to temperature so gambled for inters.The decision was obviously influenced by the team radioing him that it will keep raining for the next half hour.

What race where you watching? He didn't wear them out, IMHO he couldn't get them/keep them up to temperature so gambled for inters.The decision was obviously influenced by the team radioing him that it will keep raining for the next half hour.

Sorry just wrong term. Fact is he couldnt get tires to work. He was slow and after 5 laps he could barely hold car on track in contrast to JB. My question still remains why Lewis is from time to time so uncomfortable with Pirellis. He is driver I expect to be 15 sec. ahead by lap 20 in such conditions. He struggled too many times with JBs race pace during last two years for a driver of Lewis calibre. And now he cant get heat into tires whereas JB can? It adds more confusion to the matter

Sorry just wrong term. Fact is he couldnt get tires to work. He was slow and after 5 laps he could barely hold car on track in contrast to JB. My question still remains why Lewis is from time to time so uncomfortable with Pirellis. He is driver I expect to be 15 sec. ahead by lap 20 in such conditions. He struggled too many times with JBs race pace during last two years for a driver of Lewis calibre. And now he cant get heat into tires whereas JB can? It adds more confusion to the matter

Driving style, car set up I'm not sure but these tyres are known for being very sensitive to temperature and having a narrow optimum operating window, even more so with the McLaren (going off Button's form this year) than most cars. I also feel that in conditions like Brazil 2012 (especially with such tyres) there is always an element of lottery to it because while I think Button and Hulkenberg are excellent in these conditions I really don't think Hulkenberg in a Force India would be outperforming Ferrari's, Red Bull's, and McLaren's in normal circumstances. There is also the fact that Hamilton is a human and not perfect and Button is a world class driver when he's on form so there are gonna be races and race stints where he performs better than Hamilton. This is all just my speculation of course.As for 2011 as I said Button is world class when he's on form and last year was probably his best ever, he was happy with the car (I don't remember as many complaints about balance),EBD and tyres. 2011 was also probably Hamilton worst season, it's clear to see he wasn't fully focused. The Pirellis tyres also require more management meaning Hamilton couldn't use his main advantage over JB, raw pace, to pull away but Button could use one of his main strengths, being easy on tyres.

Sorry just wrong term. Fact is he couldnt get tires to work. He was slow and after 5 laps he could barely hold car on track in contrast to JB. My question still remains why Lewis is from time to time so uncomfortable with Pirellis. He is driver I expect to be 15 sec. ahead by lap 20 in such conditions. He struggled too many times with JBs race pace during last two years for a driver of Lewis calibre. And now he cant get heat into tires whereas JB can? It adds more confusion to the matter

IMHO, he couldn't get the softs into their window, gambled with the inters and had no problem with pace on the hards, well, at least not in relation to JB.It's all about tyre temps and setup window.

Sorry just wrong term. Fact is he couldnt get tires to work. He was slow and after 5 laps he could barely hold car on track in contrast to JB. My question still remains why Lewis is from time to time so uncomfortable with Pirellis. He is driver I expect to be 15 sec. ahead by lap 20 in such conditions. He struggled too many times with JBs race pace during last two years for a driver of Lewis calibre. And now he cant get heat into tires whereas JB can? It adds more confusion to the matter

All this conclusion based on one race? Could be simply a different setup for different race conditions. Sorry I am confused.

Not a problem ... just seemed a bit out of place ... but someone explained above its a German tradition - so that's all I was expecting to hear.

Its also a British tradition. It may have stemmed from Germany I don't know, but advent calendars are traditional in the UK and have been for my my life time. I don't think making a team advent calendar is because Lewis is going to a German sponsored team lol.